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always shared the Earth with other apelike primates, from the modern-day gorilla to the long-extinct
Dryopithecus. That we and the extinct hominins are somehow related and that we and the apes, both living
and extinct, are also somehow related is accepted by anthropologists and biologists everywhere. Yet the
exact nature of our evolutionary relationships has been the subject of debate and investigation since the great
British naturalist Charles Darwin published his monumental books On the Origin of Species (1859) and The
Descent of Man (1871). Darwin never claimed, as some of his Victorian contemporaries insisted he had, that
“man was descended from the apes,” and modern scientists would view such a statement as a useless
simplification—just as they would dismiss any popular notions that a certain extinct species is the “missing
link” between man and the apes.
There is theoretically, however, a common ancestor that existed millions of years ago. This ancestral
species does not constitute a “missing link” along a lineage but rather a node for divergence into separate
lineages. This ancient primate has not been identified and may never be known with certainty, because fossil
relationships are unclear even within the human lineage, which is more recent. In fact, the human “family
tree” may be better described as a “family bush,” within which it is impossible to connect a full
chronological series of species, leading to
Homo sapiens, that experts can agree upon.
Scientific adviser: Artykova E.U
.
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